Woman connives with lover to kidnap grandson in Bijnor

Feb 25, 2013, 04.16AM ISTTNN

LUCKNOW: In a shocking revelation Bijnor police on Saturday night arrested an old woman who had connived with her paramour and his aides to get her 4-year-old grandson kidnapped and released for a ransom of Rs 5 lakh. The arrest came following sustained e-surveillance which, much to the shock of the police, established that the woman was actively involved in the kidnapping and was to be paid Rs 1 lakh in cash as her share. Police have recovered Rs 1.5 lakh from the possession of the accused.

The arrests left the locals and the police shocked over the level of deterioration in relationships as close to that of a woman and her grand children.

Station officer of Noorpur police station in Bijnor senior sub inspector Satyendra Pal, giving the details of the police action to TOI, on Sunday said the sequence of events date back to February 15, 2013 when Azeem (4) was kidnapped from near his house in Gandhi Nagar's Chipiyan Chowk when he went to buy a balloon. Azeem's father Nazim lodged an FIR, but police failed to recover the child. In the meantime the family got a ransom call demanding Rs 8 lakh. After negotiations, a deal was struck for Rs 5 lakh as ransom. On February 19, Azeem was recovered from Haldaur., outskirts of Bijnor.

As it has now transpired, the police had taken the cell phone numbers of Azeem's family including his father, mother and grandmother Shameem on surveillance the day the complaint was lodged. Taken aback by the involvement of Azeem's grandmother, the police kept a very close watch on the entire family as a tactical moveto avoid any threat to the life of the kidnapped victim.

Investigators said, Shameem had conspired with Afsaar (50) and his aides Aleemuddin, Israar, Pappu and Riyasat - all residents of the Chipiyan Chowk to execute the crime. On February 15, Shameem gave Rs 5 to Azeem to buy balloons and candies from the nearby store. As Azeem went out, she allegedly called up Afsaar to inform him about Azeem's clothing to help the kidnappers identify the boy. At the Chipiyan Chowk, Aleemuddin and Riyasat - who were waiting for the inputs from Afsaar, kidnapped Azeem and handed him over to Afsaar the same evening.

Afsaar then handed over Azeem to his contact Satya Pal - a resident of Haldaur village along with Rs 10000 in cash to keep the kidnapped victim at his house. The next day, Afsaar called up on the cell phone of Shameem who then told her son that the kidnappers had demanded Rs 8 lakh as ransom for the safe release of Azeem. Having failed to receive any pro-active response from the police, Nazim decided to rescue his son and agreed to pay Rs 5 lakh for his safe release. On February 19, Shameem along with Nazim handed over the cash at a pre-decided place and got Azeem back the same night.

Once Azeem reached home safely, police started to round up the kidnappers one after the other and eventually zeroed in on three of them identified as Afsaar, Israar and Riyasat. With their telephonic conversations on tape, there was little scope for the accused to mislead the investigators and they eventually spilled the beans about how the crime was planned before the police took their cell phones under surveillance. On the statements of Afsaar, police also rounded up Shameem.

They had tough time convincing the victim's father about the involvement of the victim's grandmother in the crime. It was only after police produced the audio recording of Shameem's telephonic conversation with Afsaar whom she was referring as "Wakeel Saheb" that Nazim had to believe that the allegations against her were true. When Nazim confronted his mother for the first time after her arrest, he begged her to tell him the reason for committing the crime and was shocked yet again to know the reason. Shameem told him that she wanted him to marry a girl of her choice, which he didn't. This had left her agitated.